Going to the Hitmen game today. Anything in particular to pay attention to for Virtanen?
I'd say his speed, his shot, and his physical play, but you're going to notice those whether you're watching for them or not.
The top 3 things I'd watch for in Virtanen's game that go under the radar:
1) His shift lengths and line changes - he is a very conservative player when it comes to changing on the fly and will usually be the first guy to the bench on his line. He conserves his energy for when he can use it effectively.
2) Whether or not he's leaving the zone early. When he's on his game, his timing leaving his own zone is spot on and he generates offense out of the neutral zone. When he's frustrated, he'll be early and then has to turn back, or will try to steamroll a defender. When he's bored, he's late leaving.
3) His shot selection. He's going to have an opportunity to take a shot at least 10 times tonight. Depending on where your seats are you'll be able to see whether he's making a good decision on shot/pass/dump/etc and whether or not he's aware of the other options (sometimes he's a head down take the shot guy).
I fully expect him to take a penalty in the first 10 minutes tonight. He's going to come out amped up and will be looking to run someone over (in his crosshairs: Valiev, Reinhart, Vetterl, Philp, Descheaneau). 50/50 chance on whether it's a deserved penalty or just a huge, clean hit.